Author Kate Gilmore died during the first week of January. Gilmore is the author of the young adult novels Enter Three Witches, The Exchange Student, and The Caverns of Kwandalin. Gilmore didn’t begin publishing until she was 50.

Designer Robert Kinoshita (b.1914) died on December 9. Kinoshita began working in Hollywood in 1937, but his family was put into Japanese internment camps during World War II. In 1956, he returned to Hollywood when he was hired to design and build Robby the Robot for the film Forbidden Planet. He went on to design the robot used in the television series Lost in Space. Kinoshita has been inducted into the Robot Hall of Fame.

Sasquan has announced a contest to design the base of this year’s Hugo Award. Sasquan is looking for designs which highlight either Spokane or the Northwest in general. Design proposals will be accepted until Sunday, February 1, 2015, and the winner will be selected by Wednesday, February 18, 2015. The winner of the base design competition will receive a full attending membership for the convention and will be invited to take part in the public unveiling of the design.

Producer and writer Brian Clemens (b.1931) died on January 10. Clemens was the producer of the original television series The Avengers and wrote scripts for episodes of the show. He also wrote the screenplay for The Golden Voyage of Sinbad and Highlander II: The Quickening, as well as episodes of the Highlander television series.

Genre works did not fare particularly well at the 2015 Golden Globes, with most of the winners of genre interest being tangential at best. The awards, given out by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, were presented on January 11. Categories with winners of genre interest are listed below, with a full list of winners at the link.

Best Actor in a Motion Picture, Drama: Eddie Redmayne in The Theory of Everything

Best Actor in a Motion Picture, Musical or Comedy: Michael Keaton in Birdman

Saturday morning’s SpaceX launch of a Falcon 9 to the International Space Station was successful, but the experimental portion of the launch, in which the first stage of the rocket was meant to have a soft landing on a floating barge, was less than successful. The barge landing, which was to pave the way for future soft landings which would allow for the first stage to be reused, was a hard landing. SpaceX CEO Elon Musk stated that the experiment promised more success in the future.

Actor, director, and producer Terry Becker (b.1921) died on December 30. Becker appeared as Francis Sharkey on Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea as well as two episodes of Sea Hunt and one of The Twilight Zone. In 1974, he directed the horror film The Thirsty Dead.

The British Academy of Film and Television Arts has announced this years nominees for the BAFTA Awards, which will be presented by Sidewise Award winning author and actor Stephen Fry on February 8. Categories with nominees of genre interest are listed below.

Actor Rod Taylor (b.1930) died on January 7. Taylor is best known for playing the lead in The Time Machine, World Without End, Colossus and the Amazon Queen, and The Twilight Zone. He also appeared in The Birds and most recently Inglourious Basterds.